Tuesday, 8 January 2013

Hey there everyone. There's another new blog post in the works but it's by far my longest yet so it's going to take a while. Let's just say if you like this post, you'll like my next one. And with this morning's announcement which I watched live online, I decided I had to say something about it.

I must admit, I wasn't expecting the new generation so soon. But holy crap does it look amazing! Let's start off with the names. Admittedly the announcement hasn't had that much time to circulate completely yet but I think the names are going to get a lot of criticism. Why is that? They couldn't keep going with colors forever. I tried to think of myself and I came up with pink and purple. That's not likely to sell to the male market.

Next up, I'll talk about the starters. First though, a generalization, if any genwunners try to whine that they've gone too far from relatable animals now, I'm going to freak. I don't care if they're like real animals, they're still cool, and the developers can be even more creative that way!

First up, is this little critter, Chespin. Obviously he's some kind of grass type chipmunk, and his design reminds me of something from Happy Tree Friends, except less psychotic. He's pretty cute and I imagine his evolutions will fall somewhere between cool and tough. I'm not seeing evidence of a secondary type for this one quite yet but if I had to pick something it'd be Flying. Why? Those things on his hat remind me a bit of leafy wings.

Next up is Fennekin, the cutest and my favourite of the lot. She's a fiery fox/dog probably based off kitsune along the same lines as Vulpix and Ninetales. Honestly, I love this one so much I don't even care if it's final evolution is a carbon copy of Ninetales. And I imagine they're going to look beautiful. Odd as it sounds, this is the first starter Pokemon I could imagine having a high female-male gender ratio rather than the other way around. Given the likely basis in kitsune, I'm going to predict it's possible second type being Psychic, Ghost or Dark.

Last of the starters is Froakie, the water type. Even though he's quite cute, fluffy and that mark between his eyes reminds me of a blue rainbow, this is my least favourite of the bunch. That's just cos I'm not a big fan of frogs though. His evolutions are most likely going to look like big, tough frogs but given how those white bits on him look a bit like clouds, it'd be nice if I was proved wrong. Even though I already called this type for Chespin, that cloud-like design definitely makes me think this one could be Water/Flying.

Next up, I'll talk about the player characters. The boy looks pretty cool although quite similar to Hilbert from Black. The way he's looking in that mirror makes me think that character customisation might finally be an option, although I'm fully open to being wrong, and I don't mind if I am. And you can already tell the graphics are a vast improvement. I'm shocked they were able to refine them so much inside just one generation, even if it is for a whole different console.

This could look awesome in 3D. And the way he's moving, is he skating instead of running? That's cool.

The first new legendary and my favourite. Something which I only just thought of even though first saw it 12 hours ago, if there wasn't Keldeo, this could very well be a master of the Legendary Musketeers from Gen V. Everything about this Pokemon looks cool to me, especially those four pairs of glowing antlers.

The second of the new legendaries and the first thought that comes to mind is: 'Oh, it's another bird.' Not that I think it looks bad, I'm just more of a cool blue type than a menacing red. Those black lines running through it's wings and tail remind me of some relation with electricity or plasma. That's pretty cool.

This is probably the game screenshot that intrigued me the most. I don't know if this will be a huge gym puzzle or in the overworld. Personally I hope it's the latter. Swinging on those vines every time I visit the area looks like a lot of fun.

Dear God, did they ever ramp up the attack graphics for this game. It's hard to show just how incredible they look without video but there seems to be even more motion than was added to fifth gen. From the few scenes in the video, it looks like the Pokemon might be moving around while they attack and the camera will follow the path of the attack until it collides with your opponent. Seriously guys, go watch the video. It's amazing.

For the first time, the international countries will be getting the new games at the same exact time as Japan. Thank you Mr Iwata, thank you. The games are set to be released in October of this year so write that on your new 2013 calendars Poke Fans!!